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Q: Just like to let you know
On Monday 22 of Feb my 2 year old son will be starting kindergarten for the 1st time.
He will be going to the kindergarten where I work as I get a staff discount. Iam a little nervous for him. With him being in a Chinese kindergarten I just hope he does not lose a lot of himself as he is very independent.
do any of your children go to a Chinese kindergarten? have they lost a part of themselves by being in a Chinese kindergarten?
My daughter starts on Monday too. But this is a government run kindergarten. She is starting at 3.5 years old. Late because of the problems getting her enrolled.
I am nervous about it too. Not about her being "programmed", but about the possibility of her being singled out for looking a bit "different".
She is an outgoing little girl, but she is very sensitive to rejection.
I am also a bit worried about bullying. Worried about her being a bully.
Hopefully all will be ok. It has to be ok. No way can I afford an international school.
RobRocks:
we cant afford an international kindergarten either,my boy is also outgoing as well.lets keep our fingers crossed for everything to be ok.
my wife will also go back to her old job for the 1st time in 2 years,she will start on March 1st.I will take my boy on the back of my bike to work each day.
ScotsAlan:
You are lucky you work at the same school. You will know exactly what goes on. This is why I rate the teaching profession as one of the most important in society. Parents need to put 100% trust in teachers. And teachers also have a massive hand in shaping future generations. I am not worried about my daughter being indoctrinated with any political agenda. My wife went through the Chinese education system, and true me, I am more left wing than she ever was or will be :-) But yup, time to unwrap my daughter from her cotton wool buffer and put her in the hands of total strangers. Ain't civilization an amazing thing ? We trust total strangers with our most precious things.
coineineagh:
Communism in China is a charade. The artificial flavouring of the dictatorship contains neither real fruit juice nor vitamins. Whatever leads you to believe you can measure indoctrination by how left-wing your opinions are? I met many delusional Chinese, and it took me less than a month to figure out it has nothing to do with communism. It's more like extreme-right system abusing tendencies.
ScotsAlan:
Ha ha ha. I just found out the party committee of our local school requires the parents to report for cleaning duties at the weekend. Ha ha.
Lord_hanson:
I agree with Coin. Scots you should be more worried about her growing up to be a facist. My son will start next year, I will be following this thread closely.
ScotsAlan:
But my wife is not a fascist ( ahem !). And she is a product of the same education system.
Oh wait. I see what you mean :-)
Right, now I know what I need to teach our daughter to supplement the state system.
#1: How to read a map ( started already)
#2: How to cross roads ( In progress)
#3: There are more than 4 countries in the world.
#4: Maggie Thatcher was not a great Prime Minister of the UK.
#5: China did not invent everything.
#6: Saying "China is different" is not a get out of jail free card.
Re #4. Yup, my wife was taught at school that Maggie Thatcher was a great leader. Honestly. I was flabbergasted.
silverbutton1:
@scots
"#3: There are more than 4 countries in the world"
So, what are the "4 known counties" ? Im guessing one is China. What are the other 3 ?
ScotsAlan:
Ha ha Silverbutton. I think it was Sorrel who first came up with the 4 countries according to China.
#1: China
#2: Japan.
#3: Foreignerland
#4: Africa.
Robk:
I think you guys are safe... the indoctrination doesn't really begin until around the age of 10... after that... get them out... good god get them out!
Or save up enough for international schools.
My daughter starts on Monday too. But this is a government run kindergarten. She is starting at 3.5 years old. Late because of the problems getting her enrolled.
I am nervous about it too. Not about her being "programmed", but about the possibility of her being singled out for looking a bit "different".
She is an outgoing little girl, but she is very sensitive to rejection.
I am also a bit worried about bullying. Worried about her being a bully.
Hopefully all will be ok. It has to be ok. No way can I afford an international school.
RobRocks:
we cant afford an international kindergarten either,my boy is also outgoing as well.lets keep our fingers crossed for everything to be ok.
my wife will also go back to her old job for the 1st time in 2 years,she will start on March 1st.I will take my boy on the back of my bike to work each day.
ScotsAlan:
You are lucky you work at the same school. You will know exactly what goes on. This is why I rate the teaching profession as one of the most important in society. Parents need to put 100% trust in teachers. And teachers also have a massive hand in shaping future generations. I am not worried about my daughter being indoctrinated with any political agenda. My wife went through the Chinese education system, and true me, I am more left wing than she ever was or will be :-) But yup, time to unwrap my daughter from her cotton wool buffer and put her in the hands of total strangers. Ain't civilization an amazing thing ? We trust total strangers with our most precious things.
coineineagh:
Communism in China is a charade. The artificial flavouring of the dictatorship contains neither real fruit juice nor vitamins. Whatever leads you to believe you can measure indoctrination by how left-wing your opinions are? I met many delusional Chinese, and it took me less than a month to figure out it has nothing to do with communism. It's more like extreme-right system abusing tendencies.
ScotsAlan:
Ha ha ha. I just found out the party committee of our local school requires the parents to report for cleaning duties at the weekend. Ha ha.
Lord_hanson:
I agree with Coin. Scots you should be more worried about her growing up to be a facist. My son will start next year, I will be following this thread closely.
ScotsAlan:
But my wife is not a fascist ( ahem !). And she is a product of the same education system.
Oh wait. I see what you mean :-)
Right, now I know what I need to teach our daughter to supplement the state system.
#1: How to read a map ( started already)
#2: How to cross roads ( In progress)
#3: There are more than 4 countries in the world.
#4: Maggie Thatcher was not a great Prime Minister of the UK.
#5: China did not invent everything.
#6: Saying "China is different" is not a get out of jail free card.
Re #4. Yup, my wife was taught at school that Maggie Thatcher was a great leader. Honestly. I was flabbergasted.
silverbutton1:
@scots
"#3: There are more than 4 countries in the world"
So, what are the "4 known counties" ? Im guessing one is China. What are the other 3 ?
ScotsAlan:
Ha ha Silverbutton. I think it was Sorrel who first came up with the 4 countries according to China.
#1: China
#2: Japan.
#3: Foreignerland
#4: Africa.
Robk:
I think you guys are safe... the indoctrination doesn't really begin until around the age of 10... after that... get them out... good god get them out!
Or save up enough for international schools.
All the best there, Rob. As The Scotsman says, at least you know the workings of that place.
Can the little tacker speak Chinese?
RobRocks:
he speaks Chinese (more than English) as he has been home with my wife for the last 2 years.
he will only be getting a 20min English class at the kindergarten.I speak English with him at home.
ScotsAlan:
Mine is the same Rob. Hometown Cantonese is her first language, Standard Cantonese her 2'nd, Mandarin 3'rd and English a poor 4'th.
But we have noticed that Mandarin seems to be working it's way to be her first language.
I was out and about with her yesterday, and she bought a cheap toy. I needed scissors to open the bubble pack, so I asked her to ask a shopkeeper for scissors. She said " No, you do". I said "I don't know how to. Ask him in Chinese".
No problem. She got the scissors. She is quickly becoming my pocket size translator .
They’ll be fine, nothing to worry about, all part of growing up.
More than likely he'll be a minor celebrity and will be rocking three languages in no time.
your kid will be made to feel like an outsider and a celebrity. he/she will lack basic acceptance from peers, which creates a need for apprecation that may persist into adulthood. it's a recipe for narcissistic personality disorder, that's why i took my boys away from China.
my boys will face racism and mockery from kids in europe, but it's the character-building variety. once they have an unshakable self-worth, and an ability to balance selfishness/consideration as well as humility, they can go to China to make an impact, not just be a different-looking consumption drone.
didnt you say i were leaving china? or was that someone else ?
how many hours per day is your 2 year old nugget going to spend in kindergarten ?
ScotsAlan:
Yup RobRocks. I found out today the state schools are 8:00 am to 4:30. Seems an awful long time to me.
I have also found out that she will get homework. And the parents get homework too 
.
We had to buy a potted plant today. They all need to have a plant to look after. I wanted to buy a cactus, but the wife said that was against the rules. So much for being rewarded for initiative.
Scandinavian:
Fuck that is a long time. My boy is a couple of months shy of 2, no way I would put him through that. And homework...... dafuk. When you are two you need to have freedom to play. Asking a two year old to take care of a plant is setting him up for failure. It is NOT teaching responsibility.
ScotsAlan:
I think it's too long as well Scan. Not even a ramp up period to introduce them gradually. It's bang... that's you in the system for the next 14 years.
Well RobRocks. That's mine off into the State Education system. Complete with her potted plant, mattress and duvet. All seems ok.
She already knows who the man on the money is : shu shu Mao (my fault 
). But she does not know who uncle Xi is. Maybe I should have taught her that. Ach, no worries, I am sure she will know by the end of the day.
Lol, I hope she does not come home and report me for unpatriotic behaviour .
RobRocks:
cool man
my boy went to his class this morning and he fits in very well,no crying like the Chinese children.I went in to check on him and he did not even look at me.
he seems very happy to be in kindergarten.
ScotsAlan:
Yup. Mine strode straight in no problem.
I have to say teh State school looks ok Rob. As a layman when it comes to schools, I would say there is not much difference between the state school and the international places I have been to for birthday partys. It's not the dirty ramshackle place one would expect in a developing country. Wow, compared to the schools I went to in the late 70's Scotland....
But time will tell. I will keep an open mind.
ScotsAlan:
Sorry to be hijacking your thread like this RobRocks.
Strange thing. The teacher sent photos of the kids in the school to the mums wechats. Is this usual? Do teachers normally send photos to the mums? Or is this a Chinese school thing.
Anyway, worrying part now is that mum has been summoned to meet the teachers at 4:30. Worried what this will be about.
Maybe the teachers want me to stop the running commentary on ECC ?
ScotsAlan:
Just noticed from the photos they have put some sort of ink mark on my daughters head. Asked a work colleague what it was and he said it was a "reward". Looks more like a punishment to me 
.
ScotsAlan:
That's that then RobRocks. First day over and went ok.
Mum was called into the office because they were worried she would not eat the school food.
But she was not singled out by the teachers or the other kids, and she was not sent to the corner for being "different".
So the State school seems ok. At least after the first day.
The big test of course is... will she want to go back tomorrow?
Hotwater:
Would you eat the school food when you were a kid? My memories of school dinners are not good. Tripe and Onions, Steak and Kdiney pies (I hated the taste of Kidney!). I ended up taking sandwiches as the British school dinners in the 70's were truly awful.\
Now think about China? I've eaten factory canteen food....tasteless yuck made for about 5RMB/meal! I'm not surprised you wouldn't eat the food there!
Any update Rob. I have been doing a running commentary today of my experience.
I was a bit worried mine would be picked out as being "different". But no problem at all. She is the first "mixed" baby to go to school in this particular urban village.
She got three stars for being good
RobRocks:
1st day of kindergarten
Ethan was very happy to be at kindergarten all the teachers love him,so many things to touch and look at.
he could not sit still in the chair for very long.
he did not sleep with the rest of the children after lunch he was still excited.
I took some video of Ethan,but I was told by the principle not to spend to much time in the class room has he has to get used to being there.
but anyway the 1st day was very good he fits in very well.
my wife got bored yesterday as she did not know what to do with herself.2 years with Ethan then now she has not much to do.
next week she will be busy back at her old job.
RobRocks:
I will also be taking Ethan on the back of bike to work and home as well from next week.as my wife will go to work.
Nervousness is justifiable as a parent, but relax. he'll be fine as others have experienced too!
Mine has done her first month at the local state school now and all is going well.
Apart from her having decided she does not want to speak English any more, just Mandarin 
. Strange really, because her first language is Cantonese, and she has decided she does not want to speak that too. She is speaking 95% Mandarin now.
Apparently there have been comments from some kids, asking her why she looks "different". She answers them by saying she is not different. I reckon that comes from the parents.
But overall, the school seems to be doing a great job. She has become a lot more outgoing and will happily get into a conversation with anyone.
Shining_brow:
"...and will happily get into a conversation with anyone."
Except you, cos your Chinese sucks! :p
ScotsAlan:
Touche. I look forward to her getting her red scarf as a young pioneer.
